Hey all, welcome to my first guide here on MOBAFIRE.
I've been playing Rammus for the past few days and have decided to make a small page to store builds and ideas, for personal usage as well as to share around.
Whether playing Rammus as a full tank, AD offtank or AP, he can be amusing to play and (Preferably with Flash up) can be a strong initiator regardless of build.
I do not recommend the second, third, and fourth builds for ranked play, and am aware of how unconventional they are.

I'm very sorry about the fourth build, I couldn't help it. I highly recommend you play Rammus that way nonetheless.

I hope you all enjoy my shaky first guide. Mind the scaffolding.

**I've decided to publish this for now, it may seem very crude to do so, but I am planning on working through the full guide soon. Thanks.**

*Coming soon*

Build 1: Full Tank

This is the standard option for Rammus. Heavy resistance itemisation along with your Defensive Ball Curl enables you to endure heavy focus from the enemy team, whether you are being chased or have initiated a fair distance from your team.
As with any Rammus build, your main task in a teamfight is to use puncturing taunt on the enemy AD Carry. Even with this build, you will be able to kill the enemy carry very quickly due to the massive reflected damage from Defensive Ball Curl and Thornmail.
Additionally, Spiked Shell, along with the large amount of armor you have built, will net you a hefty AD boost.

Build 2: AD Bruiser/Off-tank

The main idea of this build is to ensure that anything you taunt will die within the duration of the status effect, even if they're somewhat tanky. By taking advantage of the extra AD from Spiked Shell, building Infinity Edge and Phantom dancer will allow you to dish out some nasty crits very quickly, turning Rammus into a ridiculously scary duelist, and allowing him to present a major threat in teamfights. With Defensive Ball Curl active you will remain very tanky (and convert even more armor into AD!), but when using this build, I recommend having another primary tank on the team anyway.

Build 3: AP Mid

A fun build to try out, although against most mid lane matchups you will likely need to wait for ganks. AP Rammus suffers quite an abysmal laning phase on Summoner's Rift, although apparently it works fairly well on the Twisted Treeline.
Your Powerball is now an AoE nuke.
Soaring Slam is now Crowstorm's long lost brother that hates towers.

Build 4: SANIC

Play Video
In all seriousness, surprise a lone enemy by rolling across the map in 5 seconds.

Build 1: Full Tank

Starting Items

I recommend a Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion start for jungling. The extra armor will also give you additional AD from Spiked Shell, giving you a slightly faster clear time.
I believe Hunter's Machete will give you an even faster clear time, but will leave you on far less HP for the initial gank. It will also give you no item advantage in your initial gank.

Core Items

Tenacity stacking with Tenacious ? Yes please.
If the enemy team is extremely AD heavy you may consider Ninja Tabi instead. Would have to be pretty extreme for the King of Armor Tanks to need it though.


More reflected damage to stack with Defensive Ball Curl, and the highest armor statistic in an item. Perfect item to rush on Rammus.
The damage reflected is calculated before

Armor, Health and constant aura magic damage. A tanky item with an offensive edge.
Grab this before Thornmail if the enemy team has a fed burst mage or AD caster, as the extra health will hopefully mitigate any nasty burst damage.

Armor Choices

I take either one or both of these every game as Tank Rammus.


More Armor, more Health, and the ability to slow down the enemy team once you've jumped into a teamfight. I often take this straight after the core items.

Heaps of Armor, Mana, CDR, and an aura attack speed debuff. One of my favourite tanky items in the game. Spam Soaring Slam whenever it's up, and it will refresh in no time.

Magic Resist Choices

I take one of these early on if there is a fed AP character, or when facing an AP heavy team.


Awesome item to grab if the enemy team has an annoying amount of hard CC to stop you initiating fights. The more cooldowns they blow trying to CC you in a teamfight, the greater advantage you are handing to your team.

I have to say.. this is an amazing item on Rammus. Not only are you getting a hefty Magic Resist boost, and more damage on Powerball and Soaring Slam, but you are also debuffing the enemy team's magic resist for your whole team. Always a good option if your team mates are not planning on building this.
This will also make your Defensive Ball Curl AND Thornmail reflect more damage, as well as increasing the effectiveness of your Sunfire Aegis. Fantastic.

Offensive choices

If you somehow find yourself well ahead in farm and kills, you should pick up one or both of these items.


Get this instead of Frozen Heart. Almost the same item, but will give you an AP boost, and a punishing AoE slow on each autoattack after ability use.

Get this instead of your magic resist choice. More magic DPS, nice Magic Resist, and attack speed to make the most of Spiked Shell. Not 100% sure on this one, as Abyssal Mask may actually improve your damage more than this item.


I understand that some people prefer Guardian Angel on Rammus, and this is just my personal opinion.
Guardian angel is a great item, yes. No other item gives such a high value of both Armor and Magic resist. However, I see it as more of a defensive item choice for AD Carries and many bruisers.
Building it on a primary tank is kind of like shouting 'I REALLY, REALLY DON'T WANT TO GET FOCUSED' to the enemy team, and they will gladly oblige, cutting into your AD and AP carries instead. Any good team won't focus you regardless, but it's an item slot that could have been used on a more aggressive tanky item.

If you are finding yourself dying first in teamfights, either you are very shut down, or the enemy team was foolish enough to focus you, and were ripped apart by your team. No need for Guardian Angel there. If you take Guardian angel, more often than not, you will be the last one standing on your team in a teamfight, just to be wiped out by the remainder of the opposing team.
Better to be dying and useful than not dying, not being a threat at all, then dying anyway.

There are some exceptions to the 'no Guardian angel on tanks' rule. Some tanks, such as Nasus or Malphite remain extremely threatening while building almost no offensive items. It may get to the point where they -are- getting focused, and will build this item to wreak havoc for as long as possible.

I'd like to acknowledge this guide, which encouraged me to try out AP Rammus. I'd imagine AP Rammus would be somewhat more viable on Twisted Treeline than he is on Summoner's rift, and I highly recommend the guide for more information on how AP Rammus is played.
I'd also like to link this Cho'Gath guide, quite possibly my favorite on MOBAFIRE. The AP Rammus build here is based on the tried and tested build seen there.

Thanks for reading!